Monday, January 21, 2013

A Food Lion in Belmont is closing, as the company continues grappling with sluggish sales and stiff competition.

Food Lion is owned by Belgian supermarket giant Delhaize Group. The Belmont store, on Park Street, is one of several dozen stores that Delhaize said it will close last week. The company announced the closures as part of its regular earnings release.

Delhaize is also closing 34 Sweetbay supermarkets in Florida, as well as seven Food Lion locations outside the Charlotte area. Each Food Lion employs 35 to 40 people.There will be about 1,120 Food Lion locations after the most recent closures.

There were just over 100 Sweetbay locations (none in the Charlotte area), so the closings announced represent about a third of the total.

The company has been trying to revitalize sales at Food Lion, its largest and best-known U.S. supermarket chain. Food Lion has refreshed and updated hundreds of its stores, including those in Charlotte, and changed its produce practices to enhance freshness.

Food Lion has been seeing its market share slip in the Charlotte region. In 2011, Food Lion fell from 19.2 percent of the market to 17.7 percent, according to data from Chain Store Guide.

Delhaize remains a huge company: It's 2012 sales topped $30.2 billion, up 2.9 percent from the year before. But sales at stores open a year or more in the U.S. - a key indicator of a retailer's health - slumped 0.8 percent.

And competition is likely to only get tougher: Publix is expanding north, further into Food Lion's markets, and Wal-Mart is investing more into its grocery offerings and expanding its Neighborhood Market concept.

And all these store closings and management shakeups aren't cheap. Delhaize is taking more than $173 million worth of charges related to the latest round of store closures, and almost $20 million worth of charges stemming from the management changes, including Green Burns.

Delhaize CEO Pierre Olivier-Beckers said the latest closures will help the company. "These actions, coupled with the portfolio review announced last year, enhance the health of our store network and create a solid base on which to go forward," he said, in a statement. "We remain determined to accelerate the transformation of our business."

I know that particular Food Lion pretty well. In fact, I remember what used to be there before that store - a field of grass and trees decorated with a billboard, usually displaying ads for WBTV. It's probably a safe bet that this Food Lion was hurt by the Walmart that they built behind the Roses, on the opposite side of Park Street. Even as low as the prices are at Food Lion, Walmart poses a greater threat to them than do any other grocery chain.

Unlike Anonymous @ 8:43 AM, I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Food Lion. I live near three of them, and would have to drive past them to get to the closest Harris-Teeter. That will also likely be the case whenever Publix, which I like a lot having shopped with them in Atlanta and Orlando, enters Charlotte proper. My grocery needs are fairly basic, and Food Lion fits that bill. And in all the years I've shopped with them, I've only taken one thing back to them because of spoilage - some of their house-brand diet colas. Splenda does go rancid, and those particular sodas had gone out of date.

This particular Food Lion is nasty beyond words. I have gone there a couple of times for 1 or 2 items, but vowed never to pass through their doors again. Belmont is in dire need of a decent grocery store. I would love to see Harris Teeter or Publix enter the Belmont market.

Not to mean any disrespect to the Belmont Community, but the only grocery store chain that might make a stab in the market would be Ingles. Bi-Lo is still there, but even they are feeling the effects of the Walmart machine... even though they are low-rent themselves. Anyone that lives there that has enough disposable income to to go to another grocery store will drive to either Charlotte to go to Harris Teeter, or to Gastonia to shop at Lowes Foods.

Harris Teeter sold their remaining stores to Lowes Foods. Doubt you will see a new one in Gaston any time soon. As far as the Belmont Food Lion, it may have be a little outdated but I don't think it is any dirtier than any Walmart that I have ever been in.

Anonymous 12:13 PM - Harris Teeter didn't sell "their remaining stores to Lowes" but, instead, essentially traded some stores in lower performing, more rural areas to Lowes in exchange or some stores that better fit HT's profile. This will likely work out best for both companies but HT is strong and growing, especially in more urban areas, so I wanted to clarify your remarks. That being said, I don't think you will see HT, Publix or any other more "upscale" grocery come to Gaston county since the economics and demographics just don't fit their model.

I worked at this one for a couple of weeks, when they were shorthanded, back in 1985. It was a dump then too , but really busy, the competition at the time was no better.

But now, Food Lion is in the unenviable position of being much more expensive than Walmart and Aldi. with a much worse shopping experience than Harris Teeter. Publix, or Lowe's Food. I do not think they are going to make it, long term.

This is what happens when you run a business and try to things on the cheap..why not try to be fresh from the start? this is not your 80's customer, we are now more informed and the internet social media and access to information have made businesess be more accountable to practices...

Pathetic comments that sadly show just how important the people in Charlotte 'think' they are. Outside of your little bubble, Food Lion is huge in other cities and states.

Just because the stores here are quite as nice as you want them to be, you think that is Food Lion as a whole. Shame on you and your lack of knowledge. Where I live, our Food Lion is the go-to place with stores that are larger and nicer than any of your Harris Teeters.

Keep on thinking that you are the only people on the planet Charlotte. I am so glad that I never have to travel to Ballantyne or those sickening places any more!

I will take Food Lion over Harris Teeter any day of the week. I am so sick of the elitist, soccer mom attitudes of Harris Teeter customers. Thank God that Food Lion does not overprice everything. Harris Teeter should be prosecuted for price gouging, and I wouldn't mind some of their supporters having the same fate.

Hey, you should get a job at Food Lion. Your attitude would be a perfect fit. Just make sure you remember to text your friends while helping a customer or close your checkout lane while customers are standing in line.

No more than you are the sorry PR department for Harris Teeter. I just know I need cheap groceries and don't want to be narcisitic enough to have to go to the HT and be charged a lot more for everything. You just wait, you little soccre Mom you. When these new HTs are finally built in Charlotte, YOU will be paying extra for them!

I have had mixed results shopping at different Food Lions throughout Gastonia as they have closed, relocated and built new ones. I have had the bad experience of buying hamburger several years ago that was spoiled on the inside but they "wrapped" a little fresh beef around it to make it look good. They got caught doing this by the FDA around that time and was the topic of a couple tv shows like 60 minutes. HT was better quality but they charged too much so I am not too sad to see them go out of Gastonia. Lowes is not that great either. I have been overcharged twice for items that did not ring up at the sale price. The closest Bi-Lo is a dirty dump and Ingles is too far in Dallas. I really would like to see either Ingles or Publix open a store in the southern part of the county.

I can't believe Food Lion is still in business at all. The Charlotte area suffers from very good grocery stores anyway - I know you would disagree if you are a BnR (born and raised) here and never lived anywhere else.

Food Lion is a huge company and is in no danger of going out of business.

Don't flatter yourself like these poor souls who think they should be treated like a king or queen while shopping at a grocery store. Those of us who have lived other places are quite aware of how Food Lion is actually a great chain and only in Charlotte do they expect to be pampered at the likes of the price gouging Harris Teeter.

I will miss local bottlem dollar they beat walmart on 7 out of 10 items! Walmart has already started raising prices and will go up even more as soon as store becomes food lion, by the way, food lion raised prices when stores changed to food lion.

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Katie Peralta

Katie Peralta

About this blog

Katie Peralta covers retail and breaking business news for the Charlotte Observer. She previously wrote about the U.S. economy from inside the Beltway. If you have a tip or story idea, you can reach Katie at 704-358-5079 or by email. She's also on twitter: @katieperalta.